Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakta Charitra (2010) was regarded as one of the most violent films in its time. Other movies have overtaken Rakta Charitra since, notably Nikhil Bhat’s Kill (2023). But Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar has raced past every one of them.
Dhurandhar, a two-parter just like Rakta Charitra, is seething with the kind of torture porn of which the Indian censor board used to be leery. These inhibitions seemingly having vanished. The Adults-only vendetta saga dips freely into the Torture 101 manual. Brains are blown to bits, wires are driven into skin, people are hung from ceiling fans.
Barbarism is more than a stylistic choice in Dhar’s screenplay – it’s positioned as the chosen (and only) strategy to deal with Pakistan-sponsored terrorist strikes on India. In keeping with the current government’s take-no-prisoners security policy, this second feature by the director of Uri: The Surgical Strike goes straight for the jugular.
Despite the mandatory disclaimer that Dhurandhar isn’t a documentary, the movie includes news footage and real audio recordings of the assaults on Parliament in 2001 and Mumbai in 2008. Dhurandhar begins with the fallout of another such attack – the IC-814 hijack in 1999.
Outraged by India’s capitulation to the hijackers, intelligence chief Ajay Sanyal (R Madhavan) declares that the best way to teach Pakistan a lesson is to give them a thrashing in their own backyard. Sanyal, who bears a striking physical resemblance to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, deputes an Indian agent to destroy the nexus between gangsters, terrorists and the Pakistani government.
That man is Hamza (Ranveer Singh), who enters Pakistan with a remixed version of the classic qawwali Na To Karvan Ki Talash Hai in the background. The soundtrack of Dhurandhar is replete with catchy old Hindi film tunes, making it a unique techno-jingo gorefest.
Hamza works his way into the criminal enterprise in Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood run by Balochi gangster Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna) and his cousin Uzair (Danish Pandor). Rehman has a patron in Jameel (Rakesh Bedi), a politician with an outfit modelled on the Pakistan People’s Party, and a business partner in the ISI officer Iqbal (Arjun Rampal).
Hamza woos Jameel’s daughter Yalina (Sara Arjun), which brings him dangerously close to the various plots being hatched against India. Also trying to bring down Rehman is the police officer Choudhury Aslam (Sanjay Dutt), described as a product of the union between the devil and a jinn.
Dhurandhar is the result of Dhar’s directing skills mating with a Research and Analysis Wing PowerPoint presentation. Dhar’s proficiency with Hollywood-style carnage and talent for creating distinctive characters, coupled with the literal anti-Pakistan bashing, make Dhurandhar appear a lot more momentous than it actually is.
A considerable stretch of the staggering 214-minute film is no different from gangland chronicles led by swaggering, aphorism-dripping men. Hamza’s rise to the top of the Karachi underworld is soaked in blood and cliche.
The idea of Indian spies working undercover in Pakistan has been explored before, such as in Nikkhil Advani’s D-Day (2013) and more recently in the 2025 Netflix series Saare Jahan Se Accha. But D-Day did a better job in a shorter runtime of showing how Indian spies risk life and limb to operate in Pakistan.
Dhurandhar seeks to justify itself and its gratuitous violence by pointing to the urgency of Hamza’s mission. Righteous rage runs through the clinically executed film, with pressure frequently placed on the open wounds left by serial terrorist strikes.
Ranveer Singh faithfully plays Ajay Sanyal’s “killing machine”. Hamza has luxuriant tresses, considerable distance between his musical shoulders, and testosterone oozing out of his pores. Yet, Singh’s Ramboesque robot rarely comes to life, even when Hamza is robbing others of theirs.
Other characters are livelier. Akshaye Khanna makes the most of Rehman Dakait, who expresses his menace mainly through the left-hand corner of his mouth. Sanjay Dutt is tailor-made for the part of a hell-raising cop.
Arjun Rampal is suitably chilling as the torture-loving Iqbal. Sara Arjun, last seen in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: II (2023), is striking as the easily impressed Yalina.
The ultra-serious film is lightened – and enhanced – by an excellent Rakesh Bedi. His buffoonish Jameel locates Dhurandhar’s fantasy-heavy, comic book core. Bedi’s return will be eagerly awaited in the second part, which is scheduled for March 2026.
Dhurandhar Part 1 (2025).
